Grand plans were made to post some lovely pink hued macarons in honor of Valentine’s Day! In my mind they were beautiful and delicious and enviable. How hard could macarons be, anyway? I’m pretty knowledgeable when it comes to baking. I’d say I’m an advanced amateur. And I’m seeing macarons everywhere. If all of those people can make them, then I can. You know what happens when you start thinking like that? You get humbled. Big time. I overestimated my kitchen abilities and wound up with some cracked and foot-less macarons. Apparently macaron baking is a skill that requires practice. Hats off to those of you who make them well. You have my respect forever and always. So I will keep working on my macaron making. Maybe some day you’ll see a post on them! That is if I don’t get too discouraged and give up. Sometimes I do that…

Instead of finicky macarons I went with something I am more comfortable and familiar with, pastry! This would make a lovely Valentine’s breakfast. You can bake it the day before and then just warm it up in the oven briefly before glazing. You could also let it do the second rise overnight in the fridge and bake it in the morning.

If your childhood was anything like mine you have fond memories of eating Pillsbury crescent rolls. You’ve likely watched someone experience, or you’ve experienced for yourself, the frustration of getting the tube open after not peeling the paper enough and then banging it on the counter to get it to pop open. Maybe your mom let you help roll them up and put them on the baking sheet. And then you got to enjoy their warm, melt-in-your-mouth goodness with dinner. Pillsbury will always have a special place in my heart, but these homemade crescent rolls might be what my kids remember enjoying.

These were surprisingly simple to put together and bake. You do have to let them rise twice, once after making the dough and once after forming the rolls.

So you’re looking at a minimum of 2 1/2 hours from start to finish. If you want to serve them to your kids for dinner start them with enough time. I didn’t, so my kids ate them for dessert!

Be sure not to over bake these. They get a tad dry when cooked too long. Nothing that a little extra butter can’t cure, though! If you’re planning to make these and then reheat them for later (think make-ahead Thanksgiving bread) bake them until just slightly golden so you can reheat them without fear of them drying out.

You will probably need to make three sheets of rolls, 8 per sheet, unless you have large cookie sheets and a large oven. It’s perfectly fine to bake the first two sheets and bake the other right after the first ons come out. Just be sure to keep them covered.

These do rise during baking, so don’t place them too close together. Also, try to cook similar sized rolls on the same baking sheet. Unless you can roll a perfect circle of dough, some wedges will be bigger than others. They’ll take longer to bake, and the smaller ones will take less time. If you have different sized rolls on the same sheet some will be over baked while others will be under baked. I emphasize this point only because I had one sheet that had some quite small and some quite large rolls and I had this problem. Aren’t you glad you have someone to make mistakes for you?!

The only thing I might do differently would be to brush these with more melted butter right after baking. Because there isn’t much better than that.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook (or a large bowl) mix 4 1/2 cups flour, salt and yeast.

Add in the milk mixture and mix on low until dough comes together, then increase the speed to medium and mix for about 5 minutes. If dough seems sticky add in a couple tablespoons of flour.

Turn dough out onto a well floured surface and knead a bit and shape into a ball. Place dough into a greased bowl, cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours, until doubled in size.

Melt the 1/2 stick of butter and set aside.

Prepare baking sheets (you’ll need 2 large or 3 regular) by lining them with parchment.

Turn dough out onto floured surface and divide into 3 equal sized pieces. Working with one piece, roll into a 10-inch circle. Brush with butter, then use a pizza cutter to slice dough into 8 wedges.

Take a sliced piece and roll, starting from the wide end, up to the pointed end and place pointed side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough.